I'm still alive! I just need about 4 more hours in the day in order to get everything done.

I told Mr. Bean I've been too busy spending money to post!

Although I've been doing my share of spending, I've also been doing some selling of things that either don't work in our new place or were sold just as we moved but I hadn't added to the tally yet.

The money from the sales is helping to off set some of the moving expenses and purchases for the new place. We didn't really buy much for the house after we got married in 2004 since we were starting grad school, so we're upgrading some of our ramshackle furniture.

The largest of the purchases was a new-to-me dining room table, chairs and sideboard off Craig's List for $1000. The furniture is from Crate and Barrel and according to the seller cost over $4000 in 2002. The seller was asking $1200, but took my offer of $1000. It looks great in our new place and I can envision this being our dining set for the rest of our lives. I suffered from some serious sticker shock once I started looking at new furniture. Used is definitely the way to go. Not only is it cheaper, but it also allows you to see how a piece wears after a few years of use.

The next thing we're looking for is lamps and night tables. Anyone selling anything? :-)

I'm looking around my house and the only things that I see in the way of furniture that we bought new were mattresses, a few solid wood IKEA bookshelves, a couch and a chair (upholstered). I always think that anything you can REALLY clean is just fine used. And all of our really nice pieces (antiques, really good quality shelves, china cabinet) were used.

And a little tip... we have had great luck buying near the end of the month. Several years ago, I wanted an armoire...antique, English, oak... I had my list of specifications. I spent months shopping around, and the price range was pretty much $800 and up for something of decent qulaity.Then we decided to hit an antique mall around the 28th of the month. We caught a dealer marking his $1100 oak armoire down to $550 (since we'd shopped around, I knew that the $1100 price was definitely fair, the $550 a total steal). It was not only the cheapest we'd seen, but it was in better condition than most we'd seen. When I asked the dealer if there was something wrong with it or if it'd been damaged, he said he just marked it down so it would sell fast because he needed to pay his rent!!!

Hi. Sorry this message is a little off-topic, but I saw that you purchased a Simmons Beautyrest Palm Cove mattress last winter and I would really like to know how well it held up. This is because I'm starting to believe that I jumped the gun when I went out and bought this mattress without first checking reviews (Since I have to start work next week out of my new apartment, I had to get a mattress a.s.a.p.). I read many complaints just now about Simmons Beautyrest mattresses sagging after just weeks of use, so now I'm paranoid thinking that I just wasted hundreds of dollars. Please let me know if this particular mattress (I also got the queen size) held up well for you. If you still check this blog, please shoot me an e-mail. Thanks!